GradysGhost Blog

Under discussion:

Bobby  (2006)

The year is 1968. A controversial war rages overseas. Planet of the Apes dazzles American audiences. Robert "Bobby" Kennedy is nearing the first victory on the road to winning the US presidential election where he promises to end racial prejudice, pointless and hateful violence, as well as the terrible crisis in Vietnam.

And then, the night his presidential candidacy is to be decided, he is shot and killed in the Ambassador Hotel in L.A.

Bobby is not Emilio Estevez's directorial debut, but it may well be the first honest-to-God good movie he's directed. The film has an ensemble cast of characters that each seem to feel a different connection to then-Senator Kennedy, whether it's simply greeting him and welcoming him into the hotel in the case of John Casey (played by Anthony Hopkins) or working by his side as a campaign volunteer like it is for Wade (Joshua Jackson).

While Wade feels connected to the democratic process, constantly disparaging a reporter from socialist Czechoslovakia, his black sidekick Dwayne (Nick Cannon) believes with all his heart that, after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy is the last hope for putting an end to racial prejudice.

Over the course of the movie, we also follow the stories of the hotel's manager (William H. Macy) and his wife, who finds out from the hotel's food and beverage manager (Christian Slater) that Macy is cheating on her with a phone operator (Heather Graham). Macy's wife happens to be the hotel's stylist. She cuts the hair of the stars who stay at the Ambassador Hotel, including Virginia Fallon (Demi Moore) who is slated to sing tonight prior to her introduction of Kennedy himself.

William and Diane (acted out by Elijah Wood and Lindsay Lohan) are getting married in the church so that William won't be drafted to go to Vietnam. He's getting cold feet because he doesn't think Diane really loves him. Diane is slowly finding out that she really, really does.

Cooper and Jimmy (the up-and-coming Shia LeBeouf and Brian Geraghty) are also volunteers for Kennedy's campaign, but they decide to take the day off. They get some LSD from a stoner named Fisher (Ashton Kutcher) and spend the day tripping.

All of these stories and more (there are tons of them involving even more well-known actors not mentioned yet, like Martin Sheen, Helen Hunt, Emilio Estevez himself, Laurence Fishburne, Harry Belafonte, and Sharon Stone) take place concurrently without much interaction between them until the final, destructive moment of the film: the Kennedy assassination.

This works both to the movie's benefit and detriment. While it's never difficult to keep the stories straight, there also isn't much story actually happening. It turns out what actually keeps you watching is the fact that the individual scenes are so short that you get the effect of plot. Instead, what you have is lots of character development with no real story development.

On the other hand, Bobby isn't about the myriad characters coursing their way through the hallways and tennis courts and swimming pools of the Ambassador Hotel. It's about the death of Robert Francis Kennedy. Moreover, it's about the death of everything he represented to the characters - freedom from racial division, from the unending pointless violence, from the Vietnam War and the draft and the countless Americans travelling home by way of body bag.

The point is... what's the point? Is this movie just a relic? Just a memory of Senator Kennedy as he would have been? Is it a call coming forward through time to look at our own situation? Is it saying we need a savior, and if so, is it saying our country's savior already died and that we already lamented this loss? Is Bobby just a love song for a fallen hero?

This is where the movie has its real flaws. Ashton Kutcher's mediocre performance can be overlooked because it is so miniscule. There are a couple of cheesy lines, like when Laurence Fishburne delivers a monologue to one of his prep chefs saying that the prep chef is a "future king," but the biggest problem the movie has is that the themes are blurred together so you can't figure out what Estevez was trying to get at, like so much ink running down soaked paper.

The condition of war, racial downtroddenness, high society and alcohol abuse, the emotional impact of human aging, death, life, youth, drug consumption -- I could keep on for quite some time. These things all have a prescence in Bobby. The trouble is simply figuring out why and for what purpose.

But don't let that fool you. The film is still gripping. A stark reality surrounds everything. A sense of innocence falls over everybody. Irony runs through Bobby, and builds tension. We, the audience, know that Kennedy will be dead by the time we leave the theater (or sofa), but the characters do not.

Bobby is unsure of itself, but still manages to be a powerful, moving picture that captures in its two hours a full snapshot of the 60's and the present-day ramifications of the tragic event on June 4, 1968.

Under discussion:

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End  (2007)

Okay.  So the movie was entertaining.  It's tough, but I have to admit to that.  That said, the movie was still extremely flawed, and I can't say as I like it as much as Curse of the Black Pearl.

First, the plot was so confounding that I felt like I was playing a board game.  Seriously.  You know how when you're playing Monopoly with the family, there's always that stickler to rules who says, "You can't sell your Get Out Of Jail Free Card for fifty bucks!  It says so right here on the box cover!"  That's what it felt like watching At World's End.  "You can't elect Elizabeth Swan!  That's against the rules!"

Secondly, there's the fact that this third installment doesn't exist without the second installment.  If I had it my way, I would have taken all the plot-driven elements of Dead Man's Chest (about 20 minutes of screen time) and thrown them at the beginning of At World's End.  It would have made both movies better.

Still, the special effects were terrific.  The acting was decent (though it seems like Depp may be getting tired of the Jack Sparrow routine).  The maelstrom scene at the end was pretty cool.  I wish they hadn't brought the god Calypso into it.  That's Greek and we're discussing the Caribbean islands.

If you're a fan of the series and you easily buy into the convoluted storylines, you'll probably like this one more than I did.

Under discussion:

Pieces of April  (2003)

Do you like those movies you get around the holidays made by those Frank Capra wannabes?  The movies that are so damn sweet they make your stomach hurt?  The ones that are so sappy you'd rather laugh than cry?

Clearly, I don't.

And that's precicely why Pieces of April made me smile.  Katie Holmes may not be the first name you think of when you think of a quirky, goth-esque girl living in a small apartment in the slums of New York City, but I don't think any other actress could have pulled it off.  She's living with a boy named Bobby, and they don't just love each other - they are in love with each other.  Now it's Thanksgiving morning.  April's prepping to cook a giant Thanksgiving dinner for the rest of her family.

That's problem number one.  The rest of her family consists of her cancer-ridden mother who is constantly sick from the chemotherapy; her mild, passive father (played by Oliver Platt); her prim and proper, always right bitch of a younger sister; her brother (who seems to be the only voice of reason amongst them all); and her grandmother with Alzheimer's.  It's a six-hour road trip for the crew, and they're all pretty bitter about the fact that they don't get along with April and she can't cook.  Oh, and they're all stinking, filthy rich and don't know Bobby is black, which leads to both great comedy and a feeling of tragedy later in the movie.

But the movie has a happy ending - I'll tell you that much - and in no way is it sappy or mushy.  Even my brother, who only gets into movies when things explode into the stratosphere, liked this movie.  It's a good film for everybody, and with a PG-13 rating, it would be a guaranteed family film if it were only as popular as it deserves to be.